If you want this to be the greatest year of your life then you must make a commitment to change the course of your life. Without commitment you will continue to experience cycles of frustration and failure. Do not just set goals. Make this the year that you create a game plan for success.

There are lots of strategies you can employ before arranging your first meet. They include identifying what you want out of a relationship -- what you are seeking in a companion, their values, conversational ability, personality, sense of humor and the traits that most turn you on.

If you practice telling yourself the truth on a regular basis and in everyday interactions, it will strengthen your better self, and it will become easier to make conscious choices that feed the relationship, even when things get out of hand.

Mindfulness is a state of being. Mindfulness can be described in two simple words: pay attention. By paying attention, we are present in the current moment. Often the biggest challenge is, how can we carry this state of mindfulness into our daily lives?

Self-affirmation exercises are an effective way to boost our self-esteem and by doing so, increase our emotional resilience and become better protected against the various psychological injuries we encounter in daily life.

The simple truth is this: Our self-concept is our destiny. So if we want to change our destiny for the better, we need to change our concept and beliefs about our selves also for the better. We always have the freedom to choose better thoughts.

Instead of trying to change your feelings (as cognitive therapy attempts to do), change how you choose to view your thoughts. Practicing this way, we can notice what's without immediately reacting, thus become better to choose how we want to react.

My favorite affirmation regarding love is: "(Insert name) is deeply and passionately in love with me, as I am with him." I stick a bunch of different names in that one. Sometimes I leave off the "as I am with him." It just feels better.

The loving, consistent support of family and friends is part of the reason people find peace and happiness in this life. It makes sense that we have to exorcise from our mind-body system the negative words left there by others.